Pat Robertson’s delusional view of the world actually makes God the bad guy.
I HOPE Jesus is nothing like the vindictive and ill-informed Christian broadcaster and one-time Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson, who makes the case that Haiti has suffered throughout its history because of a supposed “deal with the Devil” slaves made in order to defeat their French overlords. I love how Robertson neglects these tidbits of Haitian history:
- The U.S. played both sides in the slaves’ revolt against the French, giving supplies to both.
- The French, who under Robertson’s theory must’ve had God on their side since the Haitians had the Devil, violated a truce in order to kidnap the rebels’ leader and had him sent back to France where he died in prison from maltreatment. Way to go, Christians!
- In the 19th century, the U.S. obstructed substantive support to the newly freed nation of Haiti because slaveowners in the South didn’t want their own slaves to get any ideas about revolting. Southern whites lived in dread fear of having an independent black state so close to their shores.
- France tried repeatedly to take Haiti back by military force. Unsuccessfully. But their eventual peace agreement with Haiti required the country to pay France for its freedom, which Haiti could only do via high-interest loans happily given by the United States. It took Haiti until 1947 to pay back these loans.
Haiti’s poverty is directly linked to the shabby and opportunistic way the United States has treated that country. America needed an example to other blacks, especially its own slaves, of how they would be unable to govern themselves.
For more about Haiti’s sordid history, thanks to the U.S. and (naturally) France, you can read this illuminating retrospective from the Times Online (UK).
Ahhh facts. So refreshing. As annoying as he is, nothing he says shocks me because I already have no respect for him…but unfortunately he does have his following, and I shudder to think of all the folks at home who shook their heads in agreement when he made that comment…shudder.
Of course Jesus and real Christians are nothing like this abomination. He needs to read the Book of Revelation again to see what God has in store for false prophets who lead God’s children astray. He also needs to research real history. Too bad he’s so self-assured in his convictions that he’ll probably do no such thing.
Personally, I think you should send him that photo you captioned to understand the concept of “taken out of context”, something he constantly does with his bible.